 Julie Burchill on Jacques Derrida: "I didn't know much about him. He was French, which to me says it all. Leave well alone! I did laugh, though, when I saw the news on AOL. It said: 'Cancer claims snowy-haired philosopher.'"

Someone, somewhere, labelled Bush Furious George - a clever turn on HA Rey's Curious George children's books and an appellation that took firm hold in the online and, increasingly, offline worlds.

Yeah, it really took a firm hold online. Look at all those Bush links!

 "All we have to do today is go down to the lake for a few hours," writes welfare mother and future Springer subject Gianna ("I Don't Wanna Work, and You Can't Make Me!"). She continues: "I'm always conscious that some people will begrudge me this carefree lifestyle because I am on a sole parent's pension ... So how about it--any rightwing readers think I'm a bludger?"

Derrida, like all original and rigorous lefties, wrote on the right. Here he is recently on bin Laden. Notice that in a single sentence (```...cynical mode...'') he demolishes every argument on the left :

What appears to me unaceptable in the ``strategy''
(in terms of weapons, practices, ideology, rhetoric, discourse, and so
on) of the ``bin Laden effect'' is not only the cruelty, the disregard for
human life, the disrespect for the law, for women, the use of what is worst
in technocapitalist modernity for the purposes of religious fanaticism.
No, it is, above all, the fact that such actions and such discourse _open
onto no future and, in my view, have no future_. If we are to put any faith
in the perfectibility of public space and of the world juridico-political
scene, of the ``world'' itself, then there is, it seems to me, _nothing good_
to be hoped for from that quarter. What is being proposed, at least implicitly,
is that all captialist and modern technoscientific forces be put
in the service of an interpretation, itself dogmatic, of the Islamic
revelation of the One. Nothing of what has been so laboriously secularized
in even the nontheological form of sovereignty (...), none of this seems
to have any place whatsoever in the discourse ``bin Laden.'' That is why,
in this unleashing of violence without name, if I had to take one of
the two sides and choose in a binary situation, well I would. Despite
my very strong reservations about the American, indeed European, political
posture, about the ``international terrorist'' coalition, despite
all the de facto betrayals, all the failures to live up to democracy,
international law, and the very international institutions that the states of
this ``coalition'' themselves founded and supported up to a certain point,
I would take the side of the camp that, in principle, by right of law,
leaves a perspective open to perfectibility in the name of the ``political,''
democracy, international law, international institutions, and so forth.
Even if this ``in the name of'' is still merely an assertion and a purely
verbal committment. Even in its most cynical mode, such an assertion
still lets resonate within it an invincible promise. I don't hear any
such promise coming from ``bin Laden,'' at least not one in this world.

``Autoimmunity: Real and Symbolic Suicides'' _Philosophy in a Time of Terror_ p.113

Michael Graham's summary of the Vote For Change concert sounds like one that will have almost unlimited reusability between now and Nov 2nd: "(...) most of the political commentary was innocuous, idiotic or both." Particularly if we're going to hear from even more uninformed artists and celebrities. Hell, it'll probably apply to the talking heads' analysis of Bush's stunning, none-of-us-expected-this reelection, too.

I understand the need for welfare in certain cases, and have nothing against a single mom trying to get by. What I object to in Gianna's life are the vague statements: perhaps I'll do this, perhaps I'll do that, when what she's really doing is spending her time lolling around at the lake. And then she compounds the insult to taxpayers by taunting them:

So how about it--any rightwing readers think I'm a bludger?

Gianna (wisely) does not want to know what I think, which she demonstrated by not putting in a comments section. So... lazy and cowardly.

Actually, Rebecca, the comments feature on Gianna's blog is accessible when you go back to the main page. So it's there but hidden. I wish her and her child all the best, but I'm irritated that she thinks the government entitles her to the behavior she's exhibited and the choices she's made.

Anyone else notice the resemblance between Tim Blair and my neighbor Phil? Yeah, I know what you're thinking, Phil looks a lot older than Tim. Well, no shit, Phil IS a lot older than Tim. I said resemblance, I didn't say he was an exact fucking clone. Man, you people piss me off.

=/
I dont have much issue with a single parent (of either gender) getting a few years of minimal support from the govt. Perhaps because I intend to go to Uni next year and have the govt cover my rent (I'll still have to work of course). But I dont know why she wouldnt think she's a bludger. Its exactly what it is.

Btw, does anyone know if she's in Canberra? I dont think many towns/cities have lakes. If she's talking about one of Canberra's lakes..eww. I wouldnt take a baby near that water.

About "working" mothers: how much do they charge? Do they bring the kiddies along? What sort of labor do they perform? Do I have to look at pictures of the little rugrats? Until I know more, how can I have a considered opinion?

Furious George! Simpsons! Furious George is the name of Mr. Burns' knife-fighting monkey (my GoogleMagic sources tell me season 11, "Mansion Family." It originally aired in 2000, and I think it had something to do with pirates.).

So, Kos, "someone, somewhere?" Gawd, maybe I can get myself a suit and a pained condescending expression, and write a column labeling Kerry the "Great American Kwyjibo."

Oh good lord. Like a typical Leftist wannabe, Jeremy thinks that it's a sign of macho bravery to leave a comment on a website. Sorry, Jemmy, can't join in -- I'm just a girl and scary internet discussion forums make my stomach all hurty.